Rock & Roll (1989)
As redesigned Joes go, Rock & Roll is one of my favorites. The mold manages to take what was iconic about the original figure and create something that’s more than just a change of color. Though the old crossed bandoliers are gone, the look is replicated with straps on the chest and waist.
The later 80’s more sizable chest and arms are evident here, which is a good thing considering the size of the weaponry he has to wield. The weapons are where the figure goes a little wacky for me. The concept of a machine gunner is taken to a ridiculous extreme with the dual mini guns. Speaking of extreme, these machine guns were ahead of their time, as they predate the 90’s extreme era by several years. Seriously, they look like something Marvel’s Cable would be carrying around.
The sculpt is full of great detail, from the pouches and straps on his chest and waist to the machine gun rounds on his cap. Rock & Roll also had a very interesting accessory in his rifle, which clipped onto his right thigh. It’s a nice weapon, although impractical. He’s also unable to hold it properly due to its lack of a hand grip.
This version made it into the DIC series, and was featured prominently in the five part Operation Dragonfire mini-series. It was good to see one of the ’82 Joes get a little cartoon play, even if it wasn’t up to the quality of the Sunbow era. Oh, and one last thing–why the change from the ‘N’ to the ampersand in his name? Was it a grammar thing?
Rock & Roll is one of my favorites among the founding Joes so I was stoked to see him being revisited in ’89. Always liked him due to his specialty, file card bio and blonde beard. He looks and sounds realistic enough to be an actual soldier. Painting the straps gold would have made for a nice tribute to the original figure. (The later Sonic Fighter repaint made up for this a bit.) They should also have painted the ammo stored around his cap. As he stands, Rock & Roll is comparable to most Battle Corps offerings due to his lack of paint apps and bulkier sculpt, but he matches his comic and cartoon equivalent quite nicely. I even like the ampersand switch for some reason. It just looks cooler written that way somehow. All in all, a great update to a classic character if you’re okay with his Liefeld-ized weaponry.
I like this figure and hope to get him at some point. I do plan on getting two of the 2009 Greatest Battles Duke with the intent of following other customizer’s examples and making one of them into a 25th Anniversary version of this figure.
And by the by, 90’s extreme looks in comics were only a few years away, not several–this IS a figure from 1989. And the reason he has those is because they changed his specialty for this version–he’s now a gatling gunner instead of merely a machine gunner.
A great action figure!
I had quit Joes by ’89, but was still buying the comic. After seeing this guy, I had to have one. But, I didn’t actually get one until the late ’90’s. It’s a great figure. Though, I give him Repeater’s pack and the original Rock N Roll M60 in lieu of the mini guns. It seems more true to the character.
Better than the original!
He would have fit right in on Dutch’s team in Predator.
I LOVED this update when it hit, I had just broke my RnR thumb and it was perfect timeing, it’s one of the few times the V2 really outshined the V1 by miles (even though I did like the V1).